Tag: Arizona State University

Study Finds That Humans Would Welcome the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life

Article by Gautam Peddada                                               June 20, 2021                                              (collective-evolution.com)

• Researchers from Arizona State University have performed studies to find out how we humans will deal with it if we make contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life? Will we be terrified? Will we feel threatened? Will we be able to comprehend it? Will we accept it?

• On February 16th, ASU Assistant Professor of Psychology Michael Varnum presented the findings of the most recent study, “How Will We React to the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life?” at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Austin, Texas. Varnum’s conclusion? “If we came face to face with life outside of Earth, we would actually be pretty upbeat about it.”

• A previous pilot study focused on people’s reaction to the discovery alien microbial life on Mars, the periodic dimming around Tabby’s Star, and other Earth-like exoplanets in a star’s habitable zone that could support life as we know it. The pilot study discovered that the language used to depict these events elicited much more positive than negative feelings.

• In a second study, the researchers invited over 500 people to write about their potential reactions to the discovery of alien microbial life ‘considering their individual sentiments as well as those of mankind as a whole’. Again, participants’ replies revealed substantially more positive than negative emotions. “I’d be a little excited about the news,” one participant remarked.

• Varnum’s ASU group gave an additional sample of over 500 people split into two groups. Group One participants read a previous article from The New York Times on probable evidence of ancient microbial life on a Mars meteorite. Group Two participants were given another New York Times article about the development of synthetic human-made life in a lab.

• The responses were considerably more positive about finding of microbial alien life than they were about developing synthetic life. With regard to other planets hosting life, one participant stated, “It’s an intriguing and fascinating discovery that might be only the beginning.”

• Varnum also examined recent media coverage that the interstellar ‘Oumuamua’ asteroid is actually a spacecraft. Here, too, Varnum discovered more positive than negative emotions, implying that humans may react favorably to news of the finding of sentient life elsewhere in the cosmos. “[T]aken together, this implies that if we find out we’re not alone, we’ll take the news rather well.”

 

As the possibilities of a non-human intellect being present on Earth increase on a daily basis, one

                        Michael Varnum

critical question must be addressed: How will we deal with it if we make contact? Will we be terrified if we feel threatened? Will we accept it? Will we be able to comprehend it? Or will we dismiss it as just another item to cope with in our increasingly fast-paced world?

Researchers from Arizona State University performed a study to try to find out the answer, and the article is titled “How Will We React to the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life?”

The researchers looked at how language was used in media coverage of previous announcements of this kind, with an emphasis on alien microbial life (Pilot Study). A large online sample was asked to write about their own and humanity’s reaction to a hypothetical announcement of such a discovery, and another large online sample was asked to read and respond to a news article about the discovery of fossilised extraterrestrial microbial life in a Martian meteorite.

“If we came face to face with life outside of Earth, we would actually be pretty upbeat about it,” said Arizona State University Assistant Professor of Psychology Michael Varnum.
Varnum presented the study’s findings on February 16 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Austin, Texas.

The pilot study’s articles focused on the 1996 discovery of possibly fossilised extraterrestrial Martian microbes, the 2015 discovery of periodic dimming around Tabby’s Star, thought to indicate the presence of an artificially constructed “Dyson sphere,” and the 2017 discovery of Earth-like exoplanets in a star’s habitable zone. The pilot study discovered that the language used to depict these events elicited much more positive than negative feelings.

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Massive Remnants of an Alien World are Hidden Near the Earth’s Core, Says Study

Article by Becky Ferreira                                             March 25, 2021                                         (vice.com)

• Mikhail Zolotov, a planetary geochemist at Arizona State University, is an advocate of the so-called “giant impact hypothesis” that proposes that the Moon was formed when a planet called ‘Theia’ collide with the Earth some 4.5 billion years ago when the Earth was still forming. The impact spewed enormous volumes of planetary debris into space that eventually accumulated into the natural satellite we know as the Moon.

• A 2019 study led by ASU astrophysicist Steve Desch involved an in-depth analysis of Moon rocks returned to Earth from the Apollo missions. The research suggested that if the composition of the Moon was the same as that of the rogue planet Theia, then Theia was about four times larger than Mars, with low levels of moisture and an iron-rich mantle that was about two to three percent denser than Earth’s mantle.

• Qian Yuan and some of his colleagues studying geological sciences at Arizona State University were focusing on a pair of highly peculiar subterranean zones known as ‘large low-shear-velocity provinces’ – or ‘LLSVPs’. Located more than 1,000 miles under under the Pacific Ocean and under West Africa, these continent-sized LLSVPs – hundreds of miles high and thousands of miles across – showed up as ‘blobs’ on seismic density readouts. The seismic data indicated that these LLSVP blobs’ mass composition are two to three percent more dense than the surrounding mantle.

• It struck Yuan that having similar densities, the Moon and the subterranean blobs could both have come from the same ancient collision involving the planet Theia. Yuan did some quick calculations and confirmed that the total mass of the Moon, together with the LLSVP blobs, almost perfectly matches with a planet the size of Mars. Yuan and his team then created geodynamical models of their hypothesis which they presented it to the 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2021, held virtually in mid-March. Steve Desch was so excited about the hypothesis that he co-authored the new research study.

• Actually, Theia would need to have been bigger than Mars because a lot of this mantle material would be lost to space in the aftermath of the crash. “You will lose some material during the impact, for sure,” Yuan said. “You cannot transfer Theia’s mantle whole.”

• Right now, this all remains hypothetical, but Yuan is optimistic that there are ways to build on the existing evidence and perhaps prove that the LLSVPs have an extraterrestrial origin. For instance, scientists could get their hands on pristine samples of the Moon’s mantle from an exposed crater in the lunar South Pole, to compare its composition to the makeup of the LLSVPs. “If people can find some chemical relationship between the lunar mantle materials with the LLSVPs, it may suggest they have the same ancestor: Theia,” Yuan said. “The LLSVPs are thought to… have noble gas isotopes,” he continued. “If the mantle rocks of the Moon also have similar noble gas isotopes, I think that’s the final task for our hypothesis.”

 

                           Qian Yuan

Two gigantic chunks of material lurking deep under the surface of Earth might be remnants of an alien world called Theia that violently collided with our infant planet in an ancient impact that created the Moon.

That sentence may sound like the synopsis for a sci-fi epic, but it’s actually a new hypothesis proposed by scientists in a presentation at the 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2021, which was held virtually last week.

A team led by Qian Yuan, a PhD student studying geological sciences at Arizona State University, suggests that two mysteriously dense zones located more than 1,000 miles under Earth’s surface are “left-over Theia mantle materials,” according to the presentation summary.

            Steve Desch
           Mikhail Zolotov

Yuan and his colleagues back up this trippy idea with geodynamical models as well as evidence collected about these subterranean zones, which are known as large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVPs), or more informally as the “blobs.” Located under the Pacific Ocean and West Africa, these continent-sized LLSVPs are hundreds of miles high and thousands of miles across, making them the most massive formations in Earth’s interior.

“You could say that these are the biggest and largest meteorites, if they are mostly Theia’s mantle,” said Yuan in a call. “It’s very cool.”

Yuan first started thinking about the possibility that the blobs might have been extraterrestrially punched into Earth’s interior during a class about the so-called “giant impact hypothesis” taught by Mikhail Zolotov, a planetary geochemist at ASU.

This hypothesis proposes that the Moon was formed in the fallout of a catastrophic collision some 4.5 billion years ago. Earth had barely been born before another planet crashed into it, spewing enormous volumes of planetary debris into space that eventually accumulated into the radiant natural satellite that graces our skies today. Scientists have generally estimated that this bygone planet, named Theia after the mother of a Greek lunar goddess, was about the size of Mars, but some models suggest it was both smaller and bigger than that scale.

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We May Be Closing In On the Discovery of Alien Life. Are We Prepared?

Listen to “E127 10-15-19 We May Be Closing In On the Discovery of Alien Life. Are We Prepared?” on Spreaker.

Article by Seth Shostak                October 4, 2019              (nbcnews.com)

• In 2020, Mars and Earth will be relatively close to each other in their adjacent orbits around the sun. Taking advantage of this fortuitous orbital circumstance, NASA and European-Russian space agencies will be dispatching a small brigade of spacecraft to Mars. The new NASA craft will go beyond merely scouting for locations that were once suitable for life. They’ll be looking for life itself.

• Jim Green, the director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, is concerned that scientists haven’t thought much about the next steps should life be found on Mars. What if they found a biota that went extinct billions of years ago on Earth under the surface of Mars? Are we prepared for the discovery of life beyond this planet? Green isn’t worried about an overreaction by the public, though. In 1996, fossilized microbes were found in a meteorite that was ostensibly from Mars itself. The public barely took notice.

• What if we found an intelligent civilization on Mars? Would we do any better than the Spanish did to Native Americans in 1492? A recent survey at Arizona State University reveals that most people would welcome the revelation of intelligent extraterrestrials coming to the Earth. These rubes believe that the advanced beings would be friendly to them. Sure. Thanks ET (the movie).

• No need to worry, says Shostak. There are no intelligent beings on Mars, and certainly no civilizations. And there is no evidence that there ever were. It is a ‘silly concern’. Any life we encounter on Mars will be microscopic. But even this discovery would be enormously significant. It would be evidence that life is a process that begins on many worlds and consequently that the universe may be brimming with biology. But as of now, this is no more than hypothesis.

• [Editor’s Note]  Senior SETI astronomer Seth Shostak, the poster boy for the Deep State, is at it again. Here he is smugly reciting the status quo disinformation that extraterrestrial intelligence does not exist anywhere near the Earth, and that the only life we can hope to find off-planet is microbial life. To the very end, Shostak and the Deep State will deny that there are in fact many intelligent species currently visiting the Earth. We are a part of a local star cluster teeming with extraterrestrial civilizations all around us, waiting for us to shake off the shackles of ignorance cultivated by the Deep State serving an elite Illuminati cabal, to pull ourselves out of this third-density zombie apocalypse, and to join the other advanced civilizations of the Galactic Federation.

 

In the next decade or so, it’s entirely possible that you’ll see a headline announcing that NASA has found evidence of life in space.

Seth Shostak, Deep State Stooge

Would that news cause you to run screaming into the street? An article that appeared recently in Britain’s Sunday Telegraph hints that Jim Green, the director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, thinks the public might be discombobulated by the discovery of biology beyond the bounds of our own planet. But that’s not really what Green believes. He’s concerned that we haven’t thought much about the next steps by scientists, should we suddenly confront the reality of Martian life.

Here’s the backstory: In 2020, Mars and Earth will once again be relatively close to each other in their adjacent orbits around the sun. To take advantage of this fortuitous orbital circumstance, space agencies will be lobbing a small brigade of spacecraft toward the Red Planet. Unlike the robotic explorers now prowling Mars’ dusty landscapes, these new craft — launched by both NASA and a European-Russian collaboration — will be engaged in a type of reconnaissance that hasn’t been tried since NASA’s Viking landers set down there in the mid-1970s. The new craft will go beyond merely scouting for locations that were once suitable for life. They’ll be on the hunt for life itself. Dead or alive.

It’s the imminent dispatch of these new robotic explorers that prompted Green to say that we might learn of life on Mars within a few years. They could dig up compelling evidence of biology. But he also said that the next steps are murky. Now, he wasn’t saying that news of extraterrestrial life would inevitably disquiet the public. We know it won’t because, after all, we ran that experiment more than two decades ago.

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Featured image by Jake Gillman and Andie Isaacs.

 

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Near-Earth Objects Could Be Used by Extraterrestrials ‘To Watch Our World,’ Stunning Study Suggests

Listen to “E122 10-11-19 Near-Earth Objects Could Be Used by Extraterrestrials ‘To Watch Our World,’ Stunning Study Suggests” on Spreaker.

Article by Chris Ciaccia                     September 30, 2019                     (foxnews.com)

• Although Earth only has one moon, it does have other miniature natural satellites locked its orbit, known as “co-orbital objects.”

• According to a new study entitled: “Looking for Lurkers: Co-orbiters as SETI Observables”, recently published in the American Astronomical Society’s The Astronomical Journal, these space rocks could be hiding grounds for an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, given their small size and close proximity to the planet. The study notes, “These near-Earth objects provide an ideal way to watch our world from a secure natural object… that provides resources an ETI [extraterrestrial intelligence] might need: materials, a firm anchor, and concealment.”

• The study’s sole author, James Benford, says that there could be hundreds, or even thousands, of stars that have been close enough to the Earth throughout its history for a potential intelligent civilization to make contact. Such a civilization may have seen on the Earth single-celled organisms or possibly dinosaurs, depending upon when they viewed them. Benford adds that there’s a chance that the technology they used to keep tabs on Earth could still be there. “This is essentially extraterrestrial archaeology I’m talking about.”

• Paul Davies, a physicist and astrobiologist at Arizona State University who was not involved in the study, said that aside from looking for extraterrestrial technology, studying co-orbitals might yield some promising finds. Says Davis, “[I]f it costs very little to go take a look, why not? Even if we don’t find E.T., we might find something of interest.”

• China has plans to explore the “constant companion of Earth” asteroid 2016 HO3.

 

Although Earth only has one moon, it does have other natural satellites, including asteroid 2016 HO3, known as a “co-orbital object.” These tiny celestial objects could be an “attractive location for extraterrestrial intelligence,” according to a new study.

                        James Benford

The research suggests that these space rocks could be hiding grounds for an advanced civilization, given their small size and close proximity to the planet.

“These near-Earth objects provide an ideal way to watch our world from a secure natural object,” the study’s abstract reads. “That provides resources an ETI [extraterrestrial intelligence] might need: materials, a firm anchor, and concealment. These have been little studied by astronomy and not at all by the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) or planetary radar observations.”

The study’s sole author, James Benford, told Live Science that it’s possible that there could be hundreds, or even thousands, of stars that have been close enough to the Earth throughout its history for a potential intelligent civilization to make contact.

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How Would Humans Really React to ET? Study Reveals Surprising Result

by Katherine Hignett           February 19, 2018             (newsweek.com)

• At a press conference on February 19th, during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Arizona State University psychologist Michael Varnum presented new unpublished data with regard to Americans perception of meeting extraterrestrials. The results suggest, said Varnum, “If we find out we’re not alone, we’ll take the news rather well.” “We would actually be pretty upbeat about it.”

• Varnum analyzed media coverage and public reaction to hypothetical revelations ranging from the discovery of microbial life off planet, or that the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua’, ie: the cigar shaped asteroid that recently traveled through our solar system, was in fact an extraterrestrial spacecraft.

• Varnum’s results suggested that the individuals question believed that humanity as a whole would react more positively than negatively to news of intelligent alien life.

 

Humans are fascinated by aliens. Whether they’re chest-bursting assassins or cuddly childhood friends, pop culture is awash with extraterrestrials. Science, too, has been looking for little green men for years with the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute and more recently with Breakthrough Listen.

But what would actually happen if we encountered alien life? Would humans greet the news with pitchforks or embrace our extraterrestrial cousins?

A group of recent studies have suggested the latter. If news broke of alien life, it seems humans would be cool with it.

Arizona State University psychologist Michael Varnum presented new unpublished data at a press conference Friday during the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) annual meeting.

“If we came face to face with life outside of Earth, we would actually be pretty upbeat about it,” said Varnum at the press conference. “So far, there’s been a lot of speculation about how we might respond to this kind of news, but until now, almost no systematic empirical research.”

Interstellar Objects, Martian Microbes and Earth-Like Exoplanets

Varnum analyzed recent media coverage of the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua—first spotted flying through our solar system in late 2017—for positive and negative emotions. Specifically, Varnum was interested in the public’s response to reports that the visiting asteroid might actually be an alien spaceship. His results suggested humans would react more positively than negatively to news of intelligent alien life.

These unpublished data build on recent evidence from Varnum and colleagues suggesting humans would be happy about the discovery of alien microbes. The results from three studies were recently published in Frontiers in Psychology.

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